BASEBALL
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1994 James Berardinelli
Rating (0 to 10): 6.1
PBS airdates: nightly from 9/18/94 through 9/22/94 and 9/25/94 through 9/28/94 Home Video Release: 9/23/94 from Turner Home Video Running Length: Approx 18:50, in nine parts
Narrated by: John Chancellor Featuring: Bob Costas, Billy Crystal, Mario Cuomo, Gerald Early, Shelby Foote, Dorothy Kearns Goodwin, Mickey Mantle, Buck O'Neil, George Plimpton, John Sayles, George Will, and others With the voices of Adam Arkin, Philip Bosco, Loren Dean, Keith Carradine, Ossie Davis, Anthony Hopkins, Alan King, Al Lewis, Amy Madigan, Arthur Miller, Tip O'Neill, Gregory Peck, George Plimpton, Aidan Quinn, Jason Robards, Jerry Stiller, Eli Wallach, M. Emmet Walsh, Paul Winfield, and others Director: Ken Burns Producers: Ken Burns and Lynn Novick Written by: Ken Burns and Geoffrey C. Ward Cinematography: Buddy Squires, Ken Burns, and Allen Moore Released by Florentine Films and WETA-TV
"Take me out to the ball game.
Take me out to the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and crackerjack.
I don't care if I ever get back
So let's root, root, root for the home team.
If they don't win, it's a shame.
For it's one...two...three strikes, you're out
At the old ball game."
"You have everything [in baseball]--the immigrants and the rise of the cities, the racial tension, then the decline of cities and the rise of suburbs, the Sun Belt, conflicts between management and labor, the birth of popular culture and the media, the cult of heroes and celebrity, the nature of democracy itself. To a large extent, to a really astonishing extent, the story of baseball is the story of this country." - Filmmaker Ken Burns on BASEBALL
Since its inception in the 1700s as "townball," baseball has been a cultural mirror of the society that spawned it. Whether in its early years of organization or in recent times, when superstar's salaries have skyrocketed beyond the $5 million mark, baseball has always held wide popular appeal. More than any other sport, baseball is a game of history and memories. Its past is its strength, and understanding its current state requires a probing of all that has gone before.
Ken Burns' mammoth BASEBALL has attempted to do just that--examine the game from its beginnings to the modern day. Some have erroneously labeled the movie "exhaustive" but, in fact, it's far from that. A truly extensive history of the game would take at least ten times the 18-1/2 hours allotted, and would probably be boring beyond belief. What Burns has done with this series is to distill the essence of baseball into three major themes that he explores leisurely and comprehensively.
A baseball game has two major anthems: "The Star Spangled Banner" (sung before the first inning) and "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" (sung during the seventh inning stretch). BASEBALL has three anthems: segregation and racial inequality, strife between the players and the owners, and the basic indestructibility of the game.
Burns divided his documentary into nine "innings," each of which explores a different era of the sport. The overall structure is cumbersome, and the tone uneven (inning nine tries to cover too much; innings three, five, and six drag noticeably), but the game/movie parallelism provides as good a way as any to break the production into manageable pieces. It's difficult to believe that anyone, even the most ardent baseball historian, could sit through all one-thousand one-hundred and thirty minutes straight.
Inning One: "Our Game" (running time: 1:55)--Covers the longest span of any of the nine parts, beginning loosely in 1839 and stretching to the turn of the century. Following a loving introduction extolling the virtues of baseball, Burns explores the game's origins, debunking the myth that Abner Doubleday had anything to do with its genesis. The explosion of baseball's popularity before and during the Civil War led to the formation of the first professional team--the Cincinnati Red Stockings--in 1869. In 1876, the National League was formed under the early leadership of such men as Harry Wright and Albert Goodwill Spalding. The careers of some of the neophyte league's stars, such as Cy Young, Cap Anson, and "King" Kelly, are examined.
Inning Two: "Something Like a War" (1:45)--1900-1910. This began the era of the so-called "dead ball," where runs were at a premium, and several legendary pitchers (Cy Young, Christy Matthewson, and Walter Johnson) took the mound. John McGraw, regarded by many as the best manager of all time, began his thirty year tenure leading the New York Giants. Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb, two of baseball's greatest hitters, entered the sport. The American League came into being in 1901, pilfering 111 National League players. After two years of squabbling, peace was declared between the two rivals in 1903, the year of the first World Series (the AL Boston Pilgrims versus the NL Pittsburgh Pirates).
Inning Three: "The Faith of Fifty Million People" (2:05)--1910- 1920. More on Ty Cobb, including the "Black Mark" incident where he attacked a handicapped fan and was suspended, causing the first player's strike. The Federal League was formed in 1914, luring 81 players, but collapsed the next year under financial strain. 247 Major League players served in World War I, several of whom (including Christy Matthewson) were unable to play afterwards. In 1919, the infamous Chicago Black Sox scandal occurred with eight players taking money to throw the World Series. Baseball's first commissioner, Judge Landis, subsequently banned those players, including Shoeless Joe Jackson. ("Say it ain't so, Joe!")
Inning Four: "A National Heirloom" (1:55)--1920-1930. Babe Ruth is that "National Heirloom" who restored the country's interest in baseball following the 1919 World Series scandal. Ruth was regarded in the company of such heroes as Charles Lindberg and Rick Dempsey. The "dead ball" era ended around 1920, and the number of home runs jumped dramatically. On August 5, 1921, the Phillies and Pirates played the first-ever game carried by radio. In addition to Ruth, other notable players were Rogers Hornsby and Lou Gehrig. The 1927 Yankees ("Murderers' Row") were regarded by many as the best team ever.
Inning Five: "Shadow Ball" (2:05)--1930-1940. Despite the presence of Ruth and Gehrig on the Yankees, the team lost three straight years to the even more formidable Philadelphia A's, featuring pitcher Lefty Grove and hitter Jimmie Foxx. In 1930, Ruth became the highest- paid player ever, getting a 2-year contract worth $80 thousand per year. By the end of the decade, both Ruth and Gehrig had retired, the latter forced out of baseball by the debilitating effects of ALS. The Negro Leagues and their players, including pitcher Satchell Page and home run hitter Josh Gibson, are profiled in detail. In the late 30s, although most white players favored integrating the major leagues, the owners were still strongly opposed to the idea.
Inning Six: "The National Pastime" (2:30)--1940-1950. World War II arrived but, at the urging of President Roosevelt, baseball continued. With so many players off to fight, however, the talent was thin. In the midwest, the All American Girls Professional Baseball League began play. Judge Landis, a strong opponent of blacks in baseball, died in 1944 and his successor, Happy Chandler, permitted Branch Rickey to bring Jackie Robinson to the Dodgers. The final half of this episode is devoted to Robinson's entry into the Major Leagues, the battles he had to face once there, and the cultural significance of the event.
Inning Seven: "The Capital of Baseball" (2:15)--1950-1960. The 1950s belonged to the Yankees, the only team ever to win five straight World Series. Mantle, Ford, Berra, and manager Casey Stengel are profiled. The 1951 Dodgers/Giants rivalry, including the pennant-winning 3-game playoff, is chronicled. During the second half of the decade, teams began to move, with the Braves going from Boston to Milwaukee, the Browns going from Cleveland to Baltimore (where they were renamed the Orioles), the A's going from Philadelphia to Kansas City, and the Giants and Dodgers going to the West Coast.
Inning Eight: "A Whole New Ballgame" (1:55)--1960-1970. The Major Leagues expanded in 1961, adding teams in California (Angels), Washington (another version of the Senators), New York (Mets), and Texas (Colt .45s). In 1961, Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle chased Babe Ruth's single- season home run record, with Maris eventually breaking it. The Mets had the worst initial season of any 20th century baseball team. Pete Rose entered the game and Branch Rickey died. Marvin Miller began organizing the players to fight the owners and the "Reserve Clause" came under fire when Curt Flood refused a trade from the Cardinals to the Phillies. The old ball parks were being demolished in favor of new, mulitpurpose stadiums. Sandy Koufax, Frank Robinson, Curt Flood, Carl Yazstremski, and Bob Gibson are profiled.
Inning Nine: "Home"--1970-1990 and Extra Innings--1990-1992 (2:25). In 1972, Jackie Robinson died. Coverage of his funeral, including Jesse Jackson's eulogy, is comprehensive. The powerhouse teams of the seventies--the A's (now in Oakland), Yankees, and Reds--are profiled, along with a number of players, including Brooks Robinson, Reggie Jackson, Willie Stargell, and Roberto Clemente. In 1973, the American League introduced the Designated Hitter. Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's career home run record in 1974. Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb's all- time hit record in 1985, then was banished from the game in 1989 for betting on baseball.
BASEBALL's most glaring fault is that it's too long. Much too long. Certain segments seem to drag interminably with little in the way of color added to the basic historical regurgitation. Most of what this series has to offer can be gleaned from a good book on the sport. The analysis is rarely penetrating and the visual elements are typically stale. The moments when BASEBALL shines are too often sandwiched around stretches of dry, straightforward documentary presentation.
Almost equally disappointing is the film's treatment of the modern era. Not only are there several glaring omissions, but there is at least one blatant inaccuracy (that no major free agents were signed by different teams during the 1985-1987 collusion period), and a general lack of coherency. Burns' examination of the '70s and '80s is a spotty, hit-and-miss affair that creates few memorable impressions.
BASEBALL is at its strongest when it focuses on one of its three primary themes. From the White Sox scandal in 1919 to Pete Rose's banishment, baseball has survived a number of ugly and damaging incidents. The film demonstrates the elasticity of the game's appeal, and you get a sense that no matter how immediately crippling the current players' strike is, the sport will eventually overcome it.
The examination of baseball's approach to segregation (before the mid-'40s) and integration (thereafter) is handled in a thought-provoking and thorough manner. Burns' probing of the role of blacks in the sport--both in the Negro leagues and later in the Major Leagues--represents one of the most insightful filmed approaches to the subject. It is a topic to which he repeatedly returns. With half of one episode ("Shadow Ball") devoted to the great stars of the Negro leagues, and another half-episode chronicling Jackie Robinson's barrier-breaking placement on the Dodgers' roster ("The National Pastime"), BASEBALL does not shortchange this critical issue, displaying not only how race relations shaped the game, but how baseball's reactions reflected what was transpiring in the larger arena of society.
Finally, at least until Inning Nine, Burns' treatment of the tense and controversial owner/player relationship is clear and perceptive. Using quotes by management personnel and former players' union leader Marvin Miller, BASEBALL traces the fundamental distrust, acrimony, and greed which has marred labor relations. Inexplicably, however, the work stoppages of the '70s and '80s are not mentioned.
For aficionados in New York and Boston, there is no shortage of coverage. Fans in other parts of the country may at times feel slighted, however. The Big Apple was surely once the "Capital of Baseball," but Burns overrepresents its significance by bombarding us with a disproportionate number of profiles and anecdotes from the (Brooklyn) Dodgers, (New York) Giants, Yankees, and Mets. And Boston, other than being Burns' favorite team, is hardly worthy of the amount of exposure it receives. Based on relative screen time, one would have to conclude that Casey Stengel was a more important figure than Connie Mack, and Yogi Berra was of greater significance than Steve Carlton, Lou Brock, and Mike Schmidt combined.
Burns' CIVIL WAR style of combining photographs with "talking heads," period music, and voiceover quotes doesn't work as well in BASEBALL, perhaps because the emotional resonance achieved here doesn't match that of stories of a nation torn by war. By the middle of the series, film clips are replacing still photographs, making this documentary's overall format seem more traditional than that of its predecessor.
The are several noteworthy "recreations" of partial or entire games. These include the tense third game of the 1951 NL playoff between the Giants and the Dodgers, which ended with Robby Thompson's "shot heard 'round the world"; game six of the 1975 World Series, when the Red Sox improbably came back to defeat the Reds; and game six of the 1986 World Series, when the ball went between Bill Buckner's legs, propelling the Mets to victory over the Red Sox.
In the end, a non-baseball fan who sticks with this movie for its entirety is likely to learn a lot about the sport and its history, and perhaps gain an understanding of why it inspires such passion in so many people. The learned baseball lover, on the other hand, will discover much that is familiar, and perhaps a little that is new. And every viewer, devotee or not, is herein given the opportunity to appreciate the unique synergy between the progress of the game and American history. BASEBALL is a canvas painted with broad strokes and little detail. Burns has invested an incredible amount of effort and passion into a project that is by turns insightful, nostalgic, pedantic, and (unfortunately) occasionally dull.
"I actually think [baseball] still is at the center of our lives in this country. Oh, it has periods when it seems to be eclipsed. But baseball has so inserted itself into the American soul. Its strength is uniting people, generation after generation. What baseball has now is an identity crisis. It's suffering from an anxiety about itself. And you know what? Knowing your own history is the best antidote to that confusion." - Ken Burns
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
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